We don’t need the deception of “photorealism” anymore. Despite the loss of these tricks, iOS 7 feels more real. The parallax effect conveys an entire living world under that glass, not just abstract pictures and icons.

On the surface, iOS 7 looks like a refreshed UI, and nothing more. But digging deeper and looking closer, we have entirely new channels of user experience and interaction design opened up to us – not because we can (we always could) – but because it’s the new status quo. The bar has been raised.

We don’t need the deception of “photorealism” anymore. Despite the loss of these tricks, iOS 7 feels more real. The parallax effect conveys an entire living world under that glass, not just abstract pictures and icons.

On the surface, iOS 7 looks like a refreshed UI, and nothing more. But digging deeper and looking closer, we have entirely new channels of user experience and interaction design opened up to us – not because we can (we always could) – but because it’s the new status quo. The bar has been raised.

Apple has set fire to iOS. Everything’s in flux. Those with the least to lose have the most to gain, because this fall, hundreds of millions of people will start demanding apps for a platform with thousands of old, stale players and not many new, nimble alternatives.

There was a similar rush when the iPhone 5 was announced, but that will be nothing by comparison. This isn’t just a slightly taller form factor of the same thing. This is a revolutionary change to the way we see and interact with our applications. If you’re not in, you’re automatically outdated and showing increasing irrelevance with each passing day because others will put in the effort.